self-concept

adolescents are able to describe who they are by taking both their own and other's views into account; they can see various aspects of the self simultaneously, and this view of the self becomes more organized and coherent; they look at the self from a psychological perspective, viewing traits not as concrete entities but as abstractions; teenagers are more likely than younger children to describe themselves in terms of their ideology than in terms of physical characteristics

self-esteem

knowing who you are and liking who you are are two different things; although adolescents become increasingly accurate in understanding who they are this knowledge does not guarantee that they like themselves any better; in fact, their increasing accuracy in understanding themselves permits them to see themselves fully; it's what they do with these perceptions that leads them to develop a sense of their self-esteem

self-esteem for girls

their self-esteem tends to be lower and more vulnerable than that held by boys; one reason is that, compared to boys, girls tend to be more concerned about physical appearance and social success in addition to academic achievements; societal messages suggesting that female academic achievement is a roadblock to social success can put girls in a difficult bind: if they do well academically, they jeopardize their social success

self-esteem for boys

self-esteem, SES, and race

adolescents of higher SES generally have higher self-esteem than those of lower SES, particularly during middle and later adolescence; race and ethnicity also play a role, but their impact and lessened as prejudicial treatment of minorities has eased;

race and self-esteem

African Americans and Hispanics, researchers' explained, had lower self-esteem than did Caucasians because prejudicial attitudes in society made them feel disliked and rejected, and this feeling was incorporated into their self-concepts;

ethgender

Identity formation

according to Erik Erikson the search for identity inevitably leads some adolescents into substantial psychological turmoil as they encounter the adolescents identity crisis; Erikson's theory regarding this stage suggest teenagers try to figure out what is unique and distinctive about themselves- something they are able to do with increasing sophistication because of the cognitive gains that occur during adolescence

identity-versus-identity-confusion stage

the period during which teenagers seek to determine what is unique and distinctive about themselves; through this process, adolescents seek to understand who they are by narrowing and making choices about their personal, occupational, sexual, and political commitments

failure at identity-versus-identity-confusion stage

in Erikson's view, adolescents who stumble in their efforts to find a suitable identity may go off course in several ways; they may adopt socially unacceptable roles as a way of expressing what they do not want to be, or they may have difficulty forming and maintaining long-lasting close personal relationships; in general, their sense of self becomes "diffuse", failing to organize around a central, unified core identity

success at identity-versus-identity-confusion stage

friends and peers

during this period, adolescents increasingly rely on their friends and peers as sources of information; at the same time, their dependence on adults declines; this reliance on peers to help adolescents define their identities and learn to form relationships is the link between this stage of psycho-social development and the next stage Erikson proposed, known as intimacy-versus-isolation;

Erikson's theory

suggested that males and females move though the identity-versus-identity-confusion period differently; he argued that males are more likely to proceed through the social development stages in the order they are shown in developing a stable identity before committing to an intimate relationship with another person; he suggested that females reverse to order, seeking intimate relationships and then defining their identities though these relationships;

psychological moratorium

why some can't do psychological moratorium

some adolescents, for economic reasons, must work part time during the school year and then take hobs immediately after graduation from high school; as a result, they have little time to experiment with identities and engage in a psychological moratorium

limitations of Erikson's theory

one criticism that has been raised regarding Erikson's theory is that he uses male identity development as the standard against which to compare female identity; in particular, he saw males as developing intimacy only after they have achieved a stable identity, which is viewed as the normative pattern; to critics, Erikson's view is based on male-oriented concepts of individuality and competitiveness; psychologist Carol Gilligan has suggested that women develop identity through the establishment of relationships

commitment

identity achievement

the status of adolescents who commit to a particular identity following a period of crisis during which they consider various alternatives; teens who have reached this identity status tend to be the most psychologically healthy, and are higher in achievement motivation and moral reasoning than adolescents of any other status

identity foreclosure

the status of adolescents who prematurely commit to an identity without adequately exploring alternatives; although foreclosers are not necessarily unhappy, they tend to have what can be called "rigid strength": Happy and self-satisfied, they also have a high need for social approval and tend to be authoritarian

moratorium

the status of adolescents who may have explored various identity alternatives to some degree, but have not yet committed themselves; as a consequence they show relatively high anxiety and experience psychological conflict; on the other hand, they are often lively and appealing, seeking intimacy with others; adolescents of his status typically settle on an identity, but only after something of a struggle

identity diffusion

the status of adolescents who consider various identity alternatives, but never commit to one or never even consider identity options in any conscious way; their lack of commitment impairs their ability to form close relationships; in fact, they are often socially withdrawn

MAMA cycle

identity, race, ethnicity

although the path to forming an identity is often difficult for adolescents, it presents a particular challenge for members of racial and ethnic groups that have traditionally been discriminated against; society's contradictory values are one part of the problem;

cultural assimilation model

theses adolescents are told that soiety should be color blind, that race oand ethnic background should not matter in terms of opportunities and achienvemnt, and that if they do achieve society will accept them

pluralistic society model

suggests that U.S. society is made up of diverse, coequal cultural groups that should preserve their individual cultural features; the pluralistic society model grew in part from the belief that the cultural assimilation model denigrates the cultural heritage of minorities and lowers their self-esteem; according to this view, then , racial and ethnic factors become a central part of adolescents; identity and are not submerged in a n attempt to assimilate into the majority culture

bicultural identity

adolescents draw from their own cultural identity while integrating themselves into the dominant culture; this view suggests that an individual can live as a member of two cultures, with two cultural identities, without having to choose one over the other

adolescent depression

more than one-fourth of adolescents report feeling so sad or hopeless for 2 or more weeks in a row that they stop doing their normal activities; almost two-thirds of teenagers say they have experienced such feelings at one time or another; on the other hand, only a small minority of adolescents- some 3%- experience major depression, a full-blown psychological disorder in which depression is severe and lingers for long periods

depression,race, ethnicity and gender

research has found gender, ethnic, and racial differences in the incidence of depression; as is the case among adults, adolescents girls, on average, experience depression more often than do boys; some studies have found that African American adolescents have higher rates of depression than White adolescents, although not all research supports this conclusion; Native Americans, too, have higher rates of depression

reasons for depression

in cases of severe, long-term depression, biological factors are often involved; although some adolescents seem to be genetically predisposed to experience depression, environmental and social factors relating to the extraordinary changes in the social lives of adolescents are also important influences;

adolescent suicide

the rate of adolescent suicide in the United States has tripled in the last30 years; 1 teenage suicide occurs every 90 minutes, for an annual rate of 12.2 suicides per 100,000 adolescents; moreover, the reported rate may actually understate the true number of suicides; parents and medical personnel are often reluctant to report a death as suicide, preferring to label it an accident

suicide for girls and boys

the rate of suicide is higher for boys than for girls, although girls attempt suicide more frequently; suicide attempts among males are more likely to result in death because the methods they us: boys tend to use more violent means, such as guns, while girls are more apt to choose the more peaceful strategy of drug overdose; some estimates suggest that there are as many as 200 attempted suicides by both sexes for every successful one

cluster suicide

autonomy

culture and autonomy

in Western societies, which tend to value individualism, adolescents seek autonomy at a relatively early stage of adolescence; Asian societies are collectivistic; they promote the idea that the well-being of the group is more important than that of the individual; in such societies, adolescents' aspirations to achieve autonomy are less pronounced

generation gap

a divide between parents and adolescents in attitudes, values, aspirations, and worldviews; the generation gap, when it exists, is really quite narrow; adolescents and their parents tend to see eye to eye in a variety of domains

conflicts with parents

the newly sophisticated reasoning of adolescents leads teenagers to think about parental rules in more complex ways; the argumentativeness and assertiveness of early adolescence at first may lead to an increase in conflict, but in many ways these qualities play an important role in the evolution of parent-child relationships

cultural differences of conflicts with parents

teenage children in traditional, preindustrial cultures experience fewer mood swings and instances of risky behavior than do teens in industrialized countries; the answer may relate to the degree of independence that adolescents expect and adults permit; in more industrialized societies, in which the value of individualism is typically high, independence is an expected component of adolescence

sex cleavage

gender relations

members of both sexes enter puberty; boys and girls experience the hormonal surge that marks puberty and causes the maturation of the sex organs; at the same time, societal pressures suggest that the time is appropriate for romantic involvement; these developments lead to a change in the ways adolescents view the opposite sex

neglected adolescents

popular and controversial adolescents

have more close friends, engage more frequently in activities with their peers, and disclose more about themselves to others than do less popular students; they are also more involved in extracurricular school activities; they are well aware of their popularity, and they are less lonely than their less popular classmates

rejected and neglected adolescents

they have fewer friends, engage in social activities less frequently, and have less contact with the opposite sex; they see themselves- accurately, it turns out- as less popular, and they are more likely to feel lonely

peer pressure

under-socialized delinquents

adolescent delinquents who are raised with little discipline or with harsh, uncaring parental supervision; although they are influenced by their peers, these children have not been socialized appropriately by their parents and were not taught standards of conduct to regulate their own behavior; under-socialized delinquents typically begin criminal activities at an early age, well before the onset of adolescence

socialized delinquents

adolescent delinquents who know and subscribe to the norms of society and who are fairly normal psychologically; transgressions committed during adolescence do no lead to a life of crime; instead, most socialized delinquents pass through a period during adolescence when they engage in some petty crimes, but they do not continue lawbreaking into adulthood; socialized delinquents are typically highly influenced by their peers, and their delinquency often occurs in groups

functions of dating

dating is away to learn how to establish intimacy wiht another individual; it can provide entertainment and, depending on the status of the person one is dating, prestige; it even can be used to develop a sense of one's own identity;

adolescences and dating

dating is often a superficial activity in which the participants so rarely let down their guards that they never become truly close and never expose themselves emotionally to each other; psychological intimacy may be lacking even when sexual activity is part of the relationship; true intimacy becomes more common during later adolescence

homosexual adolescents and dating

dating presents special challenges; in some cases, blatant homophobic prejudice expressed bu classmates may lead gays and lesbians to date members of the other sex in efforts to fir in; if they do seek relationships with other gays and lesbians, they may find it difficult to find partners, who may not openly express their sexual orientation; homosexual couples who do openly date face possible harassment, making the development of a relationship all the more difficult

dating, race, and ethnicity

culture influences dating patterns among adolescents of different racial and ethnic groups, particularly those whose parents have immigrated to the United States from other countries; parents may try to control their children's dating behavior in an effort to preserve their culture's traditional values or to ensure that their child dates within his or her racial or ethnic group

masturbation

sexual self-stimulation; by the age of 15, some 80% of teenage boys and 20% of teenage girls report that they have masturbated; the frequency of masturbation in males occurs more in the early teens and then begins to decline, whereas in females, the frequency is lower initially and increases throughout adolescence

sexual intercourse and adolescents

the average age at which adolescents first have sexual intercourse has been steadily declining over the last 50 years, and about one in five adolescents have had sex before having intercourse between the ages of 15 an d18, and at least 80% have had sex before the age of 20

double standard

premarital sex is considered permissible for males but not for females; women were told by society that "nice girls don't", whereas men heard that pre-marital sex was permissible- although they should be sure to marry virgins

permissiveness with affection

teen pregnancy

every year, more than 800,000 adolescents in the United States give birth; the number of teenage pregnancies is declining; in the last 10 years, the teenage birthrate has dropped 30%; birth to African American teenagers have shown the steepest decline, with births down by more than 40% in a decade; overall, the pregnancy rate of teenagers is 43 births per 1,000, a historic low

challenge of teen pregnancy

the rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States is 2 to 10 times higher compared to that of other industrialized countries; the results of unintended pregnancy can be devastating to both mother and child; in comparison to earlier times teenage mothers today are much less likely to be married; in a high percentage of cases, mothers care for their children without the help of the father;

Safer Choices

a two-year program for adolescents in high school, is one such program that combines encouragement of abstinence with education on contraceptive use; its goals are to reduce the number of students who are sexually active while in high school and to increase condom usage in students who do have sex by addressing adolescent sexual activity on multiple fronts

sexual orientation

Alfred Kinsey pioneer sex researcher

argues that sexual orientation should be viewed as a continuum in which exclusively homosexual is at one end, and exclusively heterosexual is at the other; in between are people who show both homosexual and heterosexual behavior; most experts believe that between 4% and 10% of both men and women are exclusively homosexual during extended periods of their lives

gender identity

transgendered

individuals may pursue sexual reassignment surgery, a prolonged course of treatment in which they receive hormones and reconstructive surgery so they are able to take on the physical characteristic of the other sex